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HEALTH AS A HERITAGE 


BOSTON 


BY 

RALPH E. r BLOUNT 


WALLER HIGH SCHOOL 
CHICAGO 


/ 


A heritage, it seems to me, 

A king might wish to hold in fee. 

i — Lowell 


ALLYN and BACON 


NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 


HQ56 


COPYRIGHT, 1924 
BY ALLYN AND BACON 


Norfoooti ^Prrgjs 

J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Muas., U.S.A. 

NOV 24 "24 

©C1A807947 

'wct I 


PREFACE 


Health , Public and Personal was written to help pupils 
understand the functions of their bodies and to lead them to 
give proper care to their health. Pupils are taught to look at 
the subject from the point of view of their own hygienic 
habits and also from that of the community organization. 
There is one aspect of the subject, however, which it seemed 
better to leave for a separate volume. Hence this little 
book. 

Much of good health or ill health is determined by what 
the child inherits from his parents. Children cannot attain 
an excellent state of body or mind unless they are born of 
good stock, with the possibilities of a vigorous physique and 
a high intelligence, free from the blighting influences of 
degeneracy and race-destroying disease. Therefore, if we 
would have healthy children, we must study inheritance, 
learn what qualities of parents arc transmitted to offspring, 
discover or devise methods by which the evil factors can be 
avoided and the good promoted. 

Fifteen years ago the writer of Health as a Heritage, after 
several experimental trials, began giving to his classes in 
physiology and hygiene, as part of their regular work, the 
lessons which are here presented in book form. At first the 
lessons were given as lectures; but in this as in other subjects, 
the lecture method proved ill adapted to pupils of Junior 
High School age. Then the lessons were printed without 
illustrations. The teacher was driven to use the black¬ 
board and stereopticon to make clear the anatomical refer¬ 
ences. A later edition of the lessons included illustrative 
figures. 

iii 


IV 


PREFACE 


Now, after years of experience, the author has rewritten 
the text and included in it discussions of the most important 
of the scores of topics which the pupils ask about. In fact 
there is not a topic discussed in these pages which is not 
commonly called up by the pupils in class discussion. Thus 
the book is made to meet the needs of the inquiring minds 
of the boys and girls. 

The degree to which the lessons meet the approval of the 
pupils and their parents is shown by the voluntary expres¬ 
sions of gratitude received, by the eager questions with which 
the pupils would prolong the class hour, and by the im¬ 
proved moral tone of the pupils who have the lessons. Also, 
to test out the pupils’ reaction, we have a number of times 
asked them to express, in an unsigned ballot, their opinion of 
the value of the lessons or to tell whether we should give them 
to the classes coming next year. The votes, almost unani¬ 
mous, have been that the lessons are valuable (many pupils 
say the most valuable of all their work) and should be given 
to the new pupils. 

The illustrations of the book are newly designed and 
drawn by an expert illustrator of medical and anatomical 
text-books, Miss Mary Dixon, of the Illinois University 
Medical School. 

Though a few parents (fortunately an increasing number) 
give their children some instruction in sex matters, most boys 
and girls entering high school know little about the subject, 
except the vulgar phrases and inaccurate accounts current 
among those who have been exposed to debasing influences. 
In these aspects of the matter some children have become 
quite sophisticated. We aim in Health as a Heritage to 
restore the subject to its proper, honorable place. It is pure 
to those who come to it with clean minds; it is intensely 
interesting in its scientific as well as in its social aspects; it 
is inextricably interwoven with the most intimate strands 
of life. We must understand it, if we are to live intelli- 


PREFACE 


V 


gently and successfully in our complicated and difficult 
environment. 

In this little book we give the pupils a set of terms which 
will enable them to express their thoughts on sex matters 
without the use of the vulgar words which they properly 
shun in talking with parent or teacher. We approach the 
subject from the standpoint of plants and lower animals, in 
which the structures and processes are less complicated and 
therefore more easily understood than in human beings. 
Then we pass with comparative ease and freedom of ex¬ 
pression to the discussion of human reproduction. 

Our individual happiness and success in life depend largely 
on our avoiding the sex pitfalls which waylay our path. Not 
only disease of body but also pollution of mind, which debar 
men and women from their highest attainments in life, 
result from the unwise use of the sex function. Therefore, 
the second and third chapters discuss the dangers of wrong 
sex conduct, and aim to bring the pupils to adopt for them¬ 
selves the course which leads, in sex matters, to a sound body 
and a wholesome mind. 

How much the pupil profits by these lessons depends on 
himself. These pages lead to an understanding of the mat¬ 
ter, but the pupil must learn to apply the teaching in his 
own life. He must adopt for himself the standard of sex 
conduct which will prepare him for the most wholesome 
conjugal life and bring him such children as will be a joy and 
blessing to his later years; and having adopted such a 
standard he must adhere to it, through trial and temptation, 
to the end of his days. 


It. E. B. 








1 



















CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL 
CHILDREN 

I. PLANTS AND LOWER ANIMALS 

PAGE 

Life from Life.1 

Cells.1 

Cell Division.2 

Spores ..3 

Buds and Shoots.4 

Sexual Reproduction. 4 

Spirogyra.4 

Hydra.5 

Sex.6 

Chromosomes.8 

Inheritance.8 

Sibs.10 

Sex Determination.10 

Twins.11 

How Reproducing Cells Get Together . . . .11 

Growth within the Egg. 15 

n. MAMMALS 

The Male Function.17 

The Female Function. 19 

Embryo Life.21 

CHAPTER II. SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 

Adolescence.24 

Hormones.25 

Castration.26 

vii 





















CONTENTS 


viii 

PAGE 

Circumcision.26 

Masturbation .27 

Vampires.28 

Night Emissions.28 

Menstruation ..29 

The Hymen.30 

Perverts and Morons.31 

Venereal Diseases .31 

Gonorrhea.32 

Syphilis.33 

Legal Checks .35 


CHAPTER III. MORAL CONSIDERATIONS 


I. THE RIGHT TO BE WELL BORN 

Our Children’s Heritage.36 

Race Decay.36 

Hope Ahead.37 

Eugenics, Negative.37 

Eugenics, Positive.38 

H. CONCLUSION 

The Controlling Ideal.39 

Dragging Others Down.40 

Legal Protection.41 

Sex Needs. 41 

Avoid Temptation.42 






















ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIQUBE PAGE 

1. A Diagram of Tissue.2 

2. An Amoeba.2 

3. A Diagram of Black Mold.3 

4. A Fruiting Moss Discharging Spores .... 3 

5. A Yeast Cell with Three Buds.4 

6. Two Threads of Spirogyra Reproducing .... 5 

7. A Diagram of a Hydra.6 

8. Common Cell Division in Growth.7 

9. The Maturation Division of the Egg Cell ... 8 

10. A Sperm Cell Dividing into Spermatozoa ... 9 

11. A Diagram of a Flower.12 

12. A Diagram of a Bird’s Egg Containing an Embryo . . 16 

13. Human Spermatozoon.17 

14. Section through the Male Pelvis.18 

15. Female Reproductive Organs.19 

16. Section through the Female Pelvis.20 

17. Section through a Uterus.22 


ix 









* 


HEALTH AS A HERITAGE 


p 




HEALTH AS A HERITAGE 


CHAPTER I 

THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


Little children are still the symbol of eternal marriage between love 
and duty. — George Eliot. 


I. Plants and Lower Animals 

Life from Life. — In this lesson we shall aim to answer the 
question : How do new beings come into existence ? People 
once thought that in fermenting or decaying substances cer¬ 
tain minute living forms came into existence spontaneously; 
that is, that living things were produced just by the process 
of decay. But the microscope has revealed to us the details 
of the life of the tiny beings that exist in decaying things, 
and we now know, thanks to Louis Pasteur, that these lowly 
forms, as well as the plants and animals of more complex 
structure, come from preceding living beings of the same 
kind. Life comes only from life. 

1. What was the doctrine of spontaneous generation? 

2. Who disproved this old error? 

3. What is the antecedent of every living thing? 

Cells. — The living substance of every plant or animal 
resembles the raw white of egg. It is called protoplasm . It 
exists in tiny specks or in sacks. Each speck is a cell, and 
each cell has a central spot, called a nucleus (plural, nuclei). 
The cells, together with the substance which lies between 
them, compose the tissues which make up the bodies of all 

1 




2 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 

plants and animals. The word “ animal ” includes all 
species, from the microscopic forms which live in the water 

to the highest and most 
complex, man. The 
number of such cells in 
one person is almost be¬ 
yond imagination. In 
one joint of the finger 
there are perhaps , 
100,000,000, possibly 
twice that number. Yet 
all the cells of various 
kinds and unimaginable 
number, composing the 
body of any plant or 
animal, came into exist¬ 
ence by a process of growth from the protoplasm of a single 
cell. The methods of that process are the first things we 
shall study. 

1. Of what is a cell composed? 

2. What is tissue ? 

3. What is the origin of the millions of cells which compose a 
body? 

Cell Division. — In the tiny plants and animals composed 
of single cells, and also in many living forms composed of a 
multitude of cells, there is 
a very simple method of 
reproduction called asex¬ 
ual (a means not ). In the 
scum which forms at the 
surface of a dish of water 
in which something is de¬ 
caying, great numbers of 
one-celled animals may be 
seen with a microscope. 



The three stages represent the process of 
division in a one-celled animal. 



Figure 1 . — A Diagram of Tissue. 

Within each large cell of the tissue is a 
nucleus, and within the nucleus a nucleolus 
(little nucleus). The cells rest upon a net¬ 
work of fibers, between which are the small 
cells which produce and care for them. 











SPORES 


3 


Some one of these tiny beings may have a notch or groove 
around its middle, as though an invisible belt were drawn too 
tight. Watch it for half an hour or less, — the groove gets 
deeper, till the two parts of the cell are held together only 
Spore case by a thread of protoplasm. When this 

breaks, the two parts swim away as in¬ 
dependent beings. 


Spore9 


Describe the reproduction of a one-celled 
animal. 



Food-absorbing 
threads v 


Figure 3. — A Diagram of Black Mold. 

The more highly magnified spore case is 
just ready to break open and scatter the 
spores. 


Spores. — In some plant forms, for ex¬ 
ample green mold and black mold, the 
Figure 4. —A Fruit- parent cell breaks up into many specks of 
ing Moss Discharg- protoplasm, called spores , the dust of the 
ing Spores. mold. When a spore falls upon some food 

material which is moist and of a suitable temperature, it takes 
in food and grows into a form like the parent. Ferns and 
mosses, and, in fact, nearly all plants of the lower kinds, re¬ 
produce by means of spores. It is a method by which a 
plant produces many offspring in a short time. 

1. How are spores formed ? 

2. What advantage is there in this method ? 





4 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


Buds and Shoots. — The yeast we put into bread dough is 
composed of small cells. A projection called a bud forms at 
the side of the cell. It grows until it becomes nearly as large 
as the parent, when it breaks off and becomes a new individual. 
Reproduction by budding is very common also among 
animals of the lower groups (coral, moss-like 
animals, and others), but in these cases the 
bud at the side of the animal is composed of 
many cells. A great many plants send out 
shoots or branches, under ground or above, 
which at certain places form roots and stems, 
thus making new individuals. Gardeners 
cut slips from plants and put them in the 
moist soil, where they develop roots and be¬ 
come separate plants. 



Figure 5. — A 
Yeast Cell 
with Three 
Buds. 


1. Name several plants and animals which reproduce by means 
of buds. 

2. What plants have you seen propagated by slips, cuttings, 
runners, or other asexual methods ? 


In asexual reproduction the offspring is just like the parent, 
is simply a part of the parent’s body which has been sepa¬ 
rated from it and acquired an individuality of its own. This 
method of reproduction is found in nearly all plants and is 
common in the lower groups of animals. 

Sexual Reproduction. — Sexual reproduction is a complex 
process, in contrast to the simple asexual method, and the 
new feature, which makes it so different from the asexual 
process, has deep meaning and far-reaching influence. 

Spirogyra. — The reproduction in spirogyra may be taken 
to illustrate the simplest form of sexual reproduction. This 
little plant, found in fresh-water ponds, consists of a thread 
composed of cells placed end to end. At times two threads 
lying near each other send out projections which join and 
form a channel through which the protoplasm of one cell 


HYDRA 


5 


travels to the other cell and unites with the protoplasm there. 
The essential thing in sexual reproduction is the union of the 
nuclei from two cells. In the case of the spirogyra they are 
common growing cells. The combined nuclei 
form one cell which after resting a while de¬ 
velops and so becomes a new individual. 

1. What is the essential process in sexual repro¬ 
duction ? 

2. How does the protoplasm get from one spi¬ 
rogyra cell to the other ? 

Hydra. — This small animal, about the di¬ 
ameter of a pin and one fourth of an inch 
long, found clinging to water weeds, well il¬ 
lustrates sexual reproduction among the lower 
animals. The reproducing cells are not com¬ 
mon growing cells as in spirogyra, but special 
cells set apart for reproduction. The larger 
of these two cells is called the egg cell or ovum 
(plural, ova ); the smaller is called the sperm 
cell or spermatozo'on (plural, spermatozo'a ). 

The spermatozoa are produced in enormous 
numbers in a part of the hydra called the 
spermary. When they become mature, they Figure 6.—Two 
break out and swim about in the water. spirogyra S Re F 
Some of them by chance come near the ovum producing. 
and are attracted to it. One of them succeeds The protoplasm 
in penetrating the ovum and uniting with its of the growing 
nucleus. This process is called fertilizing the cel1 is arranged 


I i 


1 

1 

igiL 

M 

ft 


2f 



ovum, for without it the egg would not grow. 


in a spiral band. 


1. How do the reproducing cells of the hydra differ from those of 
the spirogyra ? 

2. What is an ovum ? 

3. What is a spermatozoon? 

4. What is fertilization? 

5. Why need the spermatozoon have the power of movement? 
















6 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


Sex. — Sexual reproduction is found in all the great divi¬ 
sions of the plant and animal world, and is the only kind of 
reproduction possessed by the higher animals. In many of 



The asexual reproduction is shown by the two buds on the right side, 
which will separate from the parent and become independent individuals 
when they have reached their full development. Sexual reproduction is 
accomplished by the organs at the left side of the figure. The single sper¬ 
matozoon is more highly magnified than the spermatozoa within the 
spermary. 












SEX 


7 


the lower forms of life both ova and spermatozoa are pro¬ 
duced in the same organism. Such animals are called 
hermaph'rodites (Hermes, Aphrodite, the Greek names of 
Mercury and Venus). 

Common examples are 
sea anemones, some cor¬ 
als, most worms, and 
some snails. Though 
many flowers contain 
only one of the reproduc¬ 
tive cells in one individual 
plant and the other cell 
in another individual, 
most common plants con¬ 
tain both cells in the 
same flower and are said 
to be perfect, which means 
the same as hermaphro¬ 
ditic. In most common 
animals the ova are pro¬ 
duced in special organs 
called ovaries, found in 
the female only, and the 
spermatozoa are pro¬ 
duced in organs called 
spermaries or testes (tes'- 
tes), in the male only. 

This separation of ovaries 
and testes in different in¬ 
dividuals gives rise to 
sex, male and female. 

There is no such sex difference in hydra, sea anemones, 
earthworms, and such animals. 

1. What is the fundamental difference between a male and a 
female? 



Figure 8. • 


Common Cell Division in 
Growth. 


In the second stage the star-like central 
body has divided in two and the color 
bodies are becoming distinct. In the third 
stage the central bodies have taken their 
position in opposite poles of the cell and 
the color bodies have divided, keeping the 
original number. In the fourth stage the 
color bodies are gathering at the poles. In 
the fifth stage a constriction is beginning 
to divide the cell. In the sixth stage the 
division is complete. 





8 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 



Figure 9.—The Matu¬ 
ration Division of the 

Egg Cell. 

In the first stage the 
star-like central body 
has divided. In the sec¬ 
ond stage the nucleus 
has divided and one half 
the color bodies are being 
expelled. In the third 
a spermatozoon is enter¬ 
ing the egg cell to ferti¬ 
lize it. In the fourth 
stage the nucleus is 
shown with the full num¬ 
ber of color bodies, two 
of which are from the 
spermatozoon. 


2. What are bisexual animals called ? 

3. What is a perfect flower ? 

4. What is an ovary? 

5. What is a testis ? 

Chromosomes. — To understand 
something of the deep significance of 
sexual reproduction, it will be necessary 
to study something of the structure of 
the nucleus. As a cell prepares to di¬ 
vide in growth, the tiny granules which 
are in the nucleus arrange themselves 
in lines, called color bodies ( chromo¬ 
somes ) since, when stained, they take a 
deeper color than the remainder of the 
cell. Every plant and every animal 
has a certain distinctive number of color 
bodies in each nucleus. Some organ¬ 
isms, as certain worms, have a small 
number, four, while others have more 
than a hundred and fifty. The human 
cell has twenty-four, according to some 
authorities. When the cell divides in 
growth, every color body divides in two, 
thus maintaining in each nucleus the 
distinctive number of chromosomes. 

1. What are chromosomes? 

2. How many chromosomes are in a nu¬ 
cleus? 

3. What change do the chromosomes 
undergo when the cell divides? Figure 8. 

Inheritance. — We shall next consider 
the part these color bodies play in re¬ 
production. As the egg cell prepares 
(a process called maturation) for union 
with the sperm cell, it divides in such 


INHERITANCE 


9 


a way that half the chromosomes are in one group and the 
other half in another group. One of these groups is expelled 
from the cell and plays no further part in the inheritance 
game. The other group remains in the cell as a half nucleus. 
In some unexplained way, the qualities which offspring in¬ 
herit from parents are conveyed through the chromosomes. 
Certain qualities are tied up with one color body and other 
qualities with other color bodies. Since 
the mother’s inheritable qualities go with 
the chromosomes, one half of them are 
discarded with the expelled group of color 
bodies and the other half are transmitted 
to the offspring through the retained color 
bodies. Which chromosomes are dis¬ 
carded in any case and which are retained 
seems to be a matter of chance and can 
not be foretold. 

The sperm cell, when preparing to fer¬ 
tilize the egg cell, also divides into two 
spermatozoa in such a way that each con¬ 
tains only half the number of chromo¬ 
somes. One of these spermatozoa unites 
with the half nucleus of the egg cell, thus 
joining half the transmissible qualities of 
the father with half those of the mother 
and producing a nucleus with the full 
number of chromosomes. As the fertil¬ 
ized egg cell grows, it divides in such a way as to split each 
color body, thus retaining the full number of chromosomes 
in each cell of the young which develops from the egg. 

1. How does the maturation division of the nucleus differ from 
the growth division? Compare Figure 8 with Figure 9. 

2. What becomes of each half of the nucleus? Figure 9. 

3. Why does the offspring inherit only half of the mother’s trans¬ 
missible qualities? 



Figure 10. — A Sperm 
Cell Dividing into 
Two Spermatozoa. 

Each spermatozoon 
carries one half the 
number of color bodies 
of the original sperm 
cell. 


10 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


4. Why are only half of the father’s transmissible qualities con¬ 
veyed to the young? 

5. How does it come that every cell of the young contains the 
same kind of chromosomes? 

Sibs. — This is a convenient term used to designate all 
the offspring, brothers and sisters, common to two parents. 
Since each sib owes its characteristics to the color bodies 
which happen to be retained in the maturation discard, the 
sibs will be much alike if in their several cases many of the 
same chromosomes are retained, and they will be very differ¬ 
ent if they carry few of the same chromosomes. Since with 
even a few chromosomes thousands of combinations are 
possible, it is quite unlikely that any two sibs (except identi¬ 
cal twins) will have exactly the same inherited qualities. A 
girl may inherit from her father a large frame and strong 
muscles, while the brother inherits from the mother a small 
stature and delicate features — no one can foretell just what 
the combination of characteristics will be. 

1. Why are sibs often alike? 

2. Why are sibs often very different ? 

3. Why are we unable to foretell which parental characteristics 
will appear in the offspring ? 

Sex Determination. — Animal breeders have always 
wished they could produce male or female animals in their 
herds at will, and parents often wish they could fix as they 
like the sex of the child to be born, but no method has been 
discovered by which the sex of the offspring can be controlled. 
We now know that the sex is determined at the time of the 
fertilization of the egg cell. One of the chromosomes of the 
sperm cell has the power to make the offspring to which it is 
transmitted a female. When the sperm cell divides into 
two spermatozoa, the chromosome with female potential¬ 
ities goes into one of the spermatozoa. If this spermatozoon 
fertilizes the egg cell, the offspring is a female. If the other 


HOW REPRODUCING CELLS GET TOGETHER 11 


spermatozoon, which lacks the sex-determining chromosome, 
fertilizes the egg, the offspring is a male. We do not know of 
any way in which we can influence one of the two spermatozoa 
in preference to the other to fertilize the egg. Therefore we 
cannot control the sex. By the law of chance the males and 
females are about equal in number. 

1. What determines the sex of the offspring? 

2. Why have we not been able to control the sex of offspring ? 

Twins. — Most animals have a characteristic number of 
young produced at one time. How many are produced de¬ 
pends chiefly on the number of eggs which mature at one time. 
Some fish have millions; cats and dogs usually have three 
or four to eight or ten; sheep commonly have two; horses 
and human beings one. Human twins are commonly caused 
by two eggs maturing at the same time. Such twins may be 
the same sex or brother and sister and are no more alike than 
are other sibs. But sometimes a fertilized egg, early in its 
growth, divides into two parts which separate, each forming 
a separate individual. Twins so formed are called identical 
or one-egg twins. Since they have the same chromosomes 
they are in all instances the same sex and are so alike that 
even their parents can hardly distinguish one from the other. 

Why are some twins so alike as to be hardly distinguishable from 
each other while other twins have only a sib resemblance ? 

How Reproducing Cells Get Together. — In Flowers. 
The pollen grain (commonly a yellow dust in flowers) is a 
minute body which contains the sperm cell. The egg cell is 
within the pistil , the part which becomes the pod when the 
eggs develop into seeds. From the pollen which has been 
brought to the tip of the pistil, a long tube grows down 
through the pistil until it reaches the ovule (little egg), where 
the half nucleus of the sperm cell joins that of the egg cell. 


12 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


The fertilized egg cell remains in the pistil, receiving nourish¬ 
ment from the plant’s food and growing into a seed, which is 
a young plant with stored-up food, ready under favorable 
conditions to sprout and grow. 

The blossom and honey of the flower serves to attract in¬ 
sects, which by chance rub against the pollen of one flower 


and frequently carry it 
adhering to their rough 
bodies to another flower 
of the same kind. There 
it may rub off on the 
sticky end of the pistil 
and fertilize the egg cell. 
The pollen of some flow¬ 
ers fertilizes the egg of 
the same individual, a 
process called dose fer- 



Figure 11. — A Diagram of a Flower, tilization; but in most 

C, the corolla, the colored leaves of the P lantS , there are devices 
flower ; S, a stamen, from whose sacks by which this is pre¬ 
pollen is brought to the pistil; P, the pistil, vented and the carrying 



kind is insured, a pro¬ 


cess called cross fertilization. Cross fertilization is thought 
to give stronger plants, and so is the method most favored 
in nature. 

In all the higher animals and in many plants and lower 
animals cross fertilization is made necessary by the fact that 
the sperm cells and the egg cells grow in separate individuals, 
the male producing the sperm cell and the female the egg 
cell. We have seen that in flowers a common method of 
bringing these two cells together for fertilization is by en¬ 
ticing insects to carry the pollen. In most animals the op¬ 
posite sexes have an instinct to seek one another. 



HOW REPRODUCING CELLE GET TOGETHER 13 


1. What is pollen? 

2. Where is the ovum in flowers? 

3. How does the sperm cell reach the ovum? 

4. How is pollen brought to the pistil? 

5. What is the difference between close fertilization and cross 
fertilization? 

In Water Animals. The process by which the reproducing 
cells are brought together differs a great deal in different 
animals. Some water animals, as barnacles and corals, live 
in colonies fastened to rock or shell foundations. Others, 
as clams and starfish, move about independently but exist in 
large numbers in the same locality. The males of such ani¬ 
mals simply discharge their spermatozoa into the water in 
the season when the eggs are ripe, and rely on some of them 
finding their way to the egg cells. 

Some fish smooth off a place in the sand or find under a 
stump a nook in which the female lays her eggs; then the 
male takes charge of the nest and deposits the milt, which 
consists of millions of spermatozoa. Most of the eggs are 
soon fertilized by the spermatozoa which swarm about. 
Frogs fertilize their eggs in a way very similar to that of the 
fish, but the male frog clings to the female and deposits the 
spermatozoa on the eggs just as they are being laid in the 
water, thus making their fertilization more nearly certain. 

1. What is the common method by which spermatozoa find the 
egg cells of small water animals ? 

2. What do fish and frogs do to make the meeting of the repro¬ 
ducing cells more nearly certain? 

In Land Animals. Obviously the land animals cannot 
discharge their spermatozoa aimlessly with any probability of 
their reaching their goal, the egg cells. They must employ 
another method. In all the higher animals and in many of 
the lower, such as insects, the male introduces the sperma¬ 
tozoa into a sack in the female’s body prepared to receive 
them. This is done in the act of mating. 


14 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


The story of the bee is an interesting illustration of mating. 
The hatching of a queen bee is a great event in a hive. The 
young queen runs fussily about the hive for a time and then 
launches out on what is called the marriage flight. As she 
rises in the air the drones, the males, who are waiting for her 
outside the hive and on the bushes about, pursue her. She 
swiftly flies higher and higher, the suitors straggling after. 
Finally one of her pursuers overtakes her and mates with her 
in the air. After the queen has received the spermatozoa 
from the male, she tears herself away from him and returns 
to the hive. Thereafter she lives within the seclusion of the 
hive, at intervals laying batches of thousands of eggs, which 
are fertilized as they are laid, by the spermatozoa that she 
received from the drone in her marriage flight and which are 
kept stored in a little sack in her abdomen, stored sometimes 
for two or three years. 

Birds mate frequently, perhaps for each egg that is laid. 
In the hen there is a long coiled tube ( oviduct ) leading from 
the ovary to the outside. The yolk of the egg, with the germ 
cell at its surface, is produced in the ovary. As it passes 
down the oviduct the white of the egg and the shell are 
added. Since the sperms cannot penetrate through the 
shell and white to reach the germ cell, the egg must be 
fertilized at the upper end of the tube. In mating the 
rooster deposits the spermatozoa in the external opening of 
the oviduct, and the active little sperms swim along the 
moist lining of the tube to meet the egg as it leaves the 
ovary. 

1. How do land animals bring the sperms to the egg cells? 

2. Describe the marriage flight of the bee. 

3. How is the queen bee able to lay fertile eggs two years after 
her single mating with a drone ? 

4. How do the fowl’s spermatozoa reach the egg cell ? 

5. Why does the rooster mate with the hen just after she has laid 
an egg? 


GROWTH WITHIN THE EGG 


15 


Growth within the Egg. — Food Provisions. The ferti¬ 
lized egg cell must grow to produce the young animal, and 
must, therefore, be supplied with food. What we call an 
egg is commonly the egg cell surrounded by its food material, 
and all is inclosed in a shell. Occasionally it is the egg cell 
alone. If the young animal has, when it is little grown, the 
power of getting its own food, the egg is comparatively small, 
and the young is hatched small and poorly developed. The 
butterfly, an example of this kind, lays her eggs on the leaf of 
some plant, so that the young are in contact with their food 
when they hatch, and have only to open their mouths and 
eat. Most insects follow a similar practice of laying their 
eggs on a food substance. Frogs’ eggs hatch in the water, 
and the tadpoles swim to a soft water plant to which they 
cling and on which they feed. 

If, on the other hand, the young animal must be well 
developed before it is prepared to come out of the security of 
the shell, the egg is large, containing a sufficient quantity of 
food material for the growth of the young. Birds and rep¬ 
tiles are animals of this kind. They lay few eggs compared 
with the hundreds of thousands of small eggs which a fish 
lays, and they usually take better care of their eggs and of 
the young. Birds keep their eggs warm by sitting on them, 
and reptiles bury theirs in a warm place. 

1. What do many eggs contain besides the germ cell? 

2. How does the butterfly prepare for feeding her young? 

3. What means of sustenance have newly hatched tadpoles? 

4. Why need birds’ eggs be so much larger than fishes’ eggs ? 

5. Discuss the significance of the fact that a robin lays three 
or four eggs while a quail lays fifteen or more. 

Embryo Respiration. The young animal, embryo, growing 
within the egg needs oxygen as well as food, but the oxygen 
cannot be stored within the egg; it must be brought in from 
the air continuously as it is needed. If the embryo is very 


16 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


small, the oxygen of the atmosphere or in the water can pene¬ 
trate to all parts of it and supply its needs; but in the larger 
embryo there must be a special organ for breathing, and a cir¬ 
culating blood to distribute the oxygen and food to all parts 
of the body. While the bird embryo is still very small, it 



One set of blood vessels spreads over the yolk to absorb food and bring it 
into the embryo. Another set spreads out against the shell to take in oxygen 
and give out carbon dioxid. 


develops a thin membrane filled with blood vessels, which 
soon spreads over the inner surface of the shell. Through 
the porous shell the gases pass, oxygen coming into the em¬ 
bryo’s blood and carbon dioxid, the waste gas, going out. 
In this way the membrane acts as a gill or lung. 

1. How do very small embryos get oxygen? 

2. By what special apparatus do larger embryos take in oxygen? 

3. How is the oxygen distributed through the embryo’s body? 









THE MALE FUNCTION 


17 


II. Mammals 

We are now prepared to study reproduction in the highest 
group of animals, the mammals, those which nourish their 
young with milk. We have seen that sexual reproduction is 
superior to asexual in bringing variety and vigor to the cell. 
We have noted the value of cross fertilization, the many de¬ 
vices for securing it, and the impossibility of close fertiliza¬ 
tion when the egg cell and the sperm cell are produced in 
individuals of different sex. We have discussed the methods 
of- fertilizing the ovum and the provision nature makes for 
maintaining the life of the embryo. It now remains to see 




Figure 13. — Human Spermatozoon. 

Seen from two aspects, magnified about 2000 times. 


how these principles are applied in detail in the highest 
animals. 

The Male Function. — The work of the male is to produce 
and bring to the female the spermatozoa, and to aid in pro¬ 
tecting and feeding her and the offspring. The spermatozoa 
are produced in a pair of organs called testes (tes'tes). The 
testes consist mainly of many coiled tubes whose lining cells 
undergo division. The separated half of the divided cell 
splits into spermatozoa each of which contains half the full 
number of chromosomes. The spermatozoa from all the 
tubes of each testis are gathered into the main tube or duct 
which passes from the testis over the pubic bone and behind 
the bladder, opening just below the bladder into the urethra, 
the tube through which urine is discharged. 


18 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


Though the spermatozoa leave the testes by the hundreds 
of thousands, they are so tiny that they and the fluid which 
floats them make a very small quantity. To make a mass 
large enough to be forcibly discharged, fluid is added by se¬ 



creting glands along the route, by the seminal vescicles lying 
behind the bladder, by the 'prostate gland around the urethra 
at the outlet of the bladder, and by Cowper’s glands, a small 
pair opening into the urethra a little lower than the prostate. 
These fluids together with the spermatozoa compose the 
semen. The spermatozoa are the vital part of the semen. 








THE FEMALE FUNCTION 


19 


The accompanying fluids, besides increasing the quantity of 
the liquid, provide a protective surrounding in which the 
spermatozoa can live for some time, perhaps several days. 
Around the sperm duct and the urethra are fibers of involun¬ 
tary muscle whose contraction drives out the semen. 

1. What is the function of the male? 

2. Where and how are the spermatozoa produced? 

3. Describe the course of the sperm duct. 

4. From what organs are fluids added to the spermatozoa? 

5. What is semen? 

6. How is semen driven out of the urethra? 



The Female Function. — The female produces the egg, 
and for the embryo growing from the egg she provides the 
conditions necessary for its life, and after its birth she nour¬ 
ishes the young until it is able to take ordinary food. The 
eggs are produced in the ovaries , a pair of small organs 






20 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


situated in the abdominal or in the pelvic cavity. In 
human beings the eggs mature (become ripe) about once a 
month, usually one at each period. 

On maturity the egg breaks through the membrane cover¬ 
ing the ovary and is received into the open end of the uterine 



Figure 16. — Section through the Female Pelvis. 


(Fallopian) tube. The uterine tubes, one on each side of the 
pelvis, are lined with cilia (small threads of protoplasm pro¬ 
jecting from the cells), which by their wavelike motion 
sweep the eggs to the uterus (womb), a sack with muscular 
walls lying in the middle of the pelvis. A small opening 
leads through the neck ( cervix ) of the uterus to the vagina. 
The semen from the male is received at sexual intercourse in 








EMBRYO LIFE 


21 


the vagina. The thousands of spermatozoa, moving blindly 
about, swarm over the moist lining of the vagina and uterus. 
Many of them work up the uterine tubes, ready to meet the 
egg when it leaves the ovary. They may live in the uterus 
and tubes for a week or two. 

If the egg is fertilized, it lodges in the uterus and grows. 
This process is called conception . Since only one of the 
thousands of spermatozoa is needed to fertilize the egg, con¬ 
ception will probably occur if any sperm cells are present. 
If the egg is not fertilized, it remains only a short time in the 
uterus and is then discharged. 

1. What is the function of the female? 

2. Where are the ovaries ? 

3. How frequently does ovulation (the discharge of a mature egg) 
occur in human beings ? 

4. How are the eggs conveyed to the uterus ? 

5. What is the uterus ? 

6. How do the spermatozoa get to the eggs ? 

7. What is meant by conception ? 

8. Why will conception probably occur from sexual intercourse 
at any time of the month? 

Embryo Life. — We learned on page 15 that the large eggs 
of reptiles and birds are stored with food to supply the grow¬ 
ing embryo until it is well developed and ready to come out 
into the world, and also that the oxygen needed by the em¬ 
bryo is obtained by means of a respiratory membrane under 
the shell. We shall now see how the mammals better pro¬ 
vide for their developing young. Mammals produce eggs so 
small as hardly to be visible, about one hundredth of an inch 
in diameter. The fertilized egg, as also the embryo which 
develops from it, is retained within the uterus, protected, 
warmed, nourished, supplied with oxygen, and its wastes 
removed until it is grown and ready for birth. The embryo 
or foetus (fe'tus) receives its supplies through the mother’s 
blood in the following manner: 


22 THE ORIGIN OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CHILDREN 


When the fertilized egg lodges in the uterus, it sends out 
little projections (villi) which fasten in the lining of the uterus 
and absorb from it their nourishment. In a few days the 
embryo grows so much that it needs a blood system to distrib¬ 
ute the supplies to all parts of its body. The villi on one side 

of it together with the 
lining of the uterus at 
the place of attachment 
develop into the placenta 
(called after-birth because 
it is expelled a little while 
after the birth of the 
child), an organ filled 
with blood vessels. There 
is a cord reaching from 
this placenta to the um¬ 
bilicus (navel) of the foe¬ 
tus. Through this cord 
run two arteries from 
the foetus to the pla¬ 
centa, and a vein return¬ 
ing. In the placenta the 
small blood vessels of the 
foetus entwine with those 
of the mother. The blood 
of one does not mingle 
with that of the other. 
There is always a thin 
membrane between them. Through this membrane the food 
and oxygen pass to the embryo’s blood and the wastes, car¬ 
bon dioxid and nitrogenous substances, pass into the mother’s 
blood for elimination. 

The human foetus is carried in the uterus nine months, the 
gestation period. This period is as short as a few weeks for 
some of the small mammals and nearly two years for the ele- 



Figure 17. —Section through a Uterus. 

The foetus is about two months old and is 
about one half the natural size. 






EMBRYO LIFE 


23 


phant. As the embryo enlarges, the uterus grows to accom¬ 
modate it, and the muscles in the walls of the sack increase in 
preparation for the work they have to do at the birth of the 
child. For it is by the contraction of the uterine muscles 
that the young is finally expelled from its first warm nest into 
the cold world. 

After the child is born and begins to get its oxygen by 
breathing, the cord is cut. The piece remaining attached 
to the child shrivels and drops off after a few days, leaving the 
navel, or umbilicus. While the foetus is developing, the 
mother’s milk glands, mammae , are also growing, that the 
food may be ready when it is needed. A few hours or some¬ 
times a day or two after the birth of the young, milk forms 
in the mammae and the instinct of sucking stimulates the 
young to seek its food. Henceforth the care of the young is 
not simply the working of the unseen bodily functions; it 
involves the conscious actions of nursing and protection, con¬ 
trolled by the faithful parental instincts. 

1. How large are mammal eggs? 

2. How do mammals give their eggs more secure protection and 
certain warmth than do the lower animals ? 

3. From what source does the foetus get its food and oxygen? 

4. How does it get rid of carbon dioxid and nitrogenous waste? 

5. What is the placenta? 

6. What is the umbilical cord ? 

7. What is the use of the muscles in the walls of the uterus? 

8. How are mammalian young nourished ? 


CHAPTER II 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children. — Euripides. 


Matters of sex are so fundamental in our relations with one 
another that the life of a boy or a girl, as well as that of a man 
or a woman, may be filled with blessing by keeping this func¬ 
tion wholesome, or it may be blasted almost beyond healing 
by the abuse or wanton use of this sacred power. 

Adolescence. — During childhood sex plays a relatively 
small part in life, but at puberty, the age at which the coarse 
hairs (pu'bes) first appear in the armpits and groins, usually 
between the thirteenth and seventeenth year, a great change 
comes over the boy and the girl. The sex organs, which have 
been small and inactive, take on a sudden growth. The un¬ 
developed cells of the ovary become periodically mature eggs 
and are cast off. The uterus enlarges. The testes begin to 
produce spermatozoa, and the other secreting glands to se¬ 
crete their fluids. The whole body feels the new life. Brawn 
and bone are in evidence. Grace of form appears. 

The mind, too, undergoes a revolution. The boy and the 
girl are no longer the simple comrades in work and compan¬ 
ions in play that they were. She is invested with charms 
and attractions hitherto unperceived ; and he is clothed with 
new might and virtue in her eyes. Proud of their new pow¬ 
ers, boys and girls sometimes think that now they are grown 
up, ready for the new life as men and women. But the 
human stock matures slowly; there still lack six or eight 
years before the powers of sex are fully ripe. To anticipate 

24 




HORMONES 


25 


their full development, as is done in very early marriage, is a 
serious mistake. 

1. Why is the beginning of adolescence called “puberty”? 

2. What changes of sex organs occur at puberty? 

3. What change of relationship between boys and girls occurs at 
this period? 

4. Why are not boys and girls suited for marriage as soon as their 
sex organs begin to function ? 

Hormones. — The strength and beauty of the adolescent 
growth is caused by the development of the sex organs. As 
the ovaries in girls become larger at puberty, certain cells in 
them begin to secrete a hormone (hor'mone), a substance 
which is absorbed by the blood and carried to all parts of the 
body. The hormone stimulates the rapid growth character¬ 
istic of this age and molds the awkward girl into a beautiful 
womanly form. It also acts on the brain and causes the mind 
to develop its characteristic traits. Without this secretion 
by the ovaries the perfect woman does not develop. 

In the boy there is a corresponding hormone secreted by 
certain cells of the testis, called intersti'tial cells because they 
lie in the interstices or spaces between the sperm-producing 
cells. When this hormone is absorbed and carried through¬ 
out the body, it causes the growth of the manly frame and 
inspires the courageous spirit. Without this secretion the 
body and mind do not acquire their full vigor. It is, there¬ 
fore, of the utmost importance that these secreting reproduc¬ 
tive organs be kept in perfect health. 

The gland grafting that we sometimes read about in the 
papers consists in grafting a part of a testis from a young man, 
or sometimes from another animal such as a goat, into the 
body of an old man. The thought is that the interstitial 
cells of the grafted gland will produce their hormone in the 
old man, whose testes have ceased to function, and in this way 
give him renewed vigor. In some cases the operation seems 


26 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


to be partially successful, at least for a short time. The 
grafted glands seem to be absorbed and disappear after a 
few months. 

1. Where are the sex hormones produced? 

2. What effect on girls has the hormone they produce ? 

3. What effect on boys has the hormone they produce? 

4. Why are “glands” sometimes grafted into old men? 

Castration. — Male animals raised for food or work are 
usually “ cut ” or castrated when they are small, that is, their 
testes are cut out. This renders them more docile and their 
flesh more tender. It prevents the development of all sex in¬ 
stincts and the fighting spirit and makes them take on fat 
more readily. The gelding (horse), the steer or ox, the 
wether (sheep), the barrow (pig), the capon (chicken) are 
such animals. The removal of the ovaries of the female is 
not so easy and is not so frequently done. Slave boys in 
oriental countries have sometimes been castrated, made 
eunuchs , that when grown they might be placed in charge of 
the women’s quarters, since they would feel no sex attraction 
for their charges. The operation would be a crime in this 
country. 

1. What is castration? 

2. Why would a gelding be more suitable than a stallion to work 
in team with a mare? 

3. Why are not steers commonly used in the fighting ring in¬ 
stead of bulls? 

4. Why are epicures willing to pay a fancy price for capons? 

5. What is a eunuch? 

Circumcision. — Arabs, Jews, and some other peoples have 
for thousands of years had the practice of circumcising their 
boy babies. The operation consists in cutting off the fore¬ 
skin of the penis. (See Figure 14.) Savages do this with a 
flint or other sharp stone; modern priests use a surgical knife 
and observe aseptic precautions. Some physicians advise 


MASTURBATION 


27 


that all boys be circumcised, claiming that it renders them 
less subject to infection. Others advise against circumcision 
except in cases in which the foreskin is too tight or otherwise 
abnormal. There seems to be a difference of opinion as to 
whether the circumcised penis is more sensitive or less sensi¬ 
tive to sexual excitement than the uncircumcised. 

1. What is circumcision? 

2. Who practice it ? 

3. Give arguments for and against making the practice general. 

Masturbation. — The external sex organs of little children 
sometimes have some slight defect, such as the skin’s adhering 
where it should be free; or the urine or some other secre¬ 
tion produces an irritation and causes the child to rub or 
scratch the organs. The trouble can usually be remedied 
by a physician, and it should be promptly cared for, since 
otherwise the child might get accustomed to excite the sex 
organs and thus contract a most vicious habit. Whether 
such a habit, called masturbation, is thus established because 
of an irritation of the organs, or whether the boy or girl delib¬ 
erately stimulates them for the sake of the sensation, it is an 
exceedingly harmful practice. 

To stimulate the nerves of the sex organs idly or wantonly 
is to degrade to a vulgar use a passion which has an exalted 
function in conjugal life; it is a serious offense against one¬ 
self and against one’s future mate; it takes away one’s self- 
respect and makes one a coward before others. The young 
man or young woman who persists in this vice becomes in 
extreme cases a moral and physical wreck, with a pale, weak 
body and hysterical mind. Any one who has fallen into the 
vicious habit of self-abuse can escape this horrible outcome 
by a determined effort and a hard fight. Sometimes the 
cooperation of a physician is almost indispensable. Normal 
health and strength are usually quickly recovered after the 
evil practice is stopped. 


28 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


1. How does the practice of handling their sex organs sometimes 
originate in children? 

2. What can be done to prevent it ? 

3. What harmful effects, mental and physical, has persistent 
masturbation in older boys and girls ? 

4. How can the bad practice be overcome? 

Vampires. — Young men are often victims of charlatans, 
so-called “ doctors,” and quack remedies. Advertisements 
appear in the newspapers describing symptoms of the sex 
diseases that are said to lead to serious debility, to loss of 
manhood, and to other evils. The claim is made that the 
trouble can easily be cured by the medicine or by the charla¬ 
tan advertised. The young man who reads is convinced that 
he is in a dangerous condition; he feels timid about consult¬ 
ing the family physician, so he goes to the “ specialist.” 
These advertising “ doctors ” are usually scoundrels, who de¬ 
lude the youth into taking medicine he does not need. If 
anything is wrong with the sexual functions of a young man, 
he should consult the most trustworthy physician he can get, 
the one who attends the other members of his family. 

1. Why should advertising “doctors” always be avoided? 

2. Why is the family doctor the best physician to consult when 
one suspects his sex organs may not be just right? 

Night Emissions. — Boys should know that voluptuous 
dreams accompanied by seminal emissions are normal, the 
experience of all young men, and not the grave symptoms of 
departing virility. The reproductive glands in health are 
always producing a small amount of fluid, part of which is 
absorbed again, part escapes with the urine, and part is lost 
in occasional night emissions. The amount that is lost is 
small and does no harm unless the boy has been indulging 
unclean thoughts or practices. The boy who excites his sex 
feelings by vulgar stories, by thinking about sex relations, or 
by handling his organs stimulates an undue quantity of secre- 


MENSTRUATION 


29 


tion which, pressing against the walls of the gland or duct, 
sets up a nerve excitation which gives rise to sex dreams and 
the resulting emission of semen. The boy who keeps his 
mind occupied with worthy things has nothing to fear. 

1. Why should occasional night emissions give a boy no concern? 

2. How can a boy avoid too frequent emissions? 

Menstruation. — Young women experience after puberty 
the periodic discharge of blood from the uterus, the menstrua¬ 
tion. It recurs at periods of about twenty-eight days and 
in health lasts from three to five days. The bleeding is 
caused by some of the lining cells of the uterus breaking 
down and exposing the very small blood vessels, which are 
easily ruptured. The muscular contractions of the uterus 
check the bleeding, and new cells soon replace those broken 
down. The purpose of this function probably is to prepare 
a fresh surface for the attachment of the egg. Although a 
mature egg may be discharged from the ovary at other times, 
this process ( ovulation ) usually occurs just before menstrua¬ 
tion. Hence it is that conception usually occurs at this time. 

If a girl is normal, she should not baby herself by going to 
bed or sitting in an easy chair for a day or two during her 
period; she should be able to continue her usual work, but 
should, avoid any unusual strain or fatigue. Wet feet or chill¬ 
ing is to be guarded against. Exercise is desirable but should 
be somewhat moderated. Clothing should be loose and easy; 
and the pressure of all stays, bands or straps, straight fronts, 
and hip reducers is more than ever harmful at this time. If 
a girl would bear this function easily and later become a good 
mother, she must be a good animal; she must do more walk¬ 
ing, rowing, swimming, and play more open-air games than 
has in the past been customary with girls, but not during 
menstruation. During her period a healthy girl should 
bathe daily, but should be careful that the water is not so 
cold or the bath so prolonged as to chill her. 


30 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


Menstruation should be painless, but since we are such 
imperfect specimens of our race, especially under modern 
city conditions, it frequently is not. The suffering can 
often be made less and sometimes can be completely re¬ 
lieved. Girls should promptly consult a trustworthy 
physician (in most cities there are competent women physi¬ 
cians), and not wait till painful menstruation has become 
a fixed habit. They should never resort to “ patent medi¬ 
cines/’ some of which are merely worthless, while others 
contain alcohol and other drugs which work great injury 
to the body. They should accept menstruation as natural, 
and never do anything to check it. 

The periodic menstruation and ovulation in women cease 
at an age usually between forty-five and fifty, though fre¬ 
quently outside this range. This time is called the meno¬ 
pause or change of life. It is a time of unusual strain, espe¬ 
cially in women of a nervous disposition. We should be 
especially thoughtful to make life easy for our mothers when 
they are passing through this ordeal. 

1. What is menstruation? 

2. How is it caused ? 

3. What has been thought to be the value of menstruation? 

4. What precautions should girls observe during menstruation? 

5. What can a girl do to make menstruation easy ? 

6. If a girl suffers from painful menstruation, what should she do ? 

7. Wdiy should she not use “patent medicines”? 

8. What is the menopause? 

9. Why ought women to be treated with unusual consideration 
during their menopause? 

The Hymen. — In Figure 16, page 20, you may notice at 
the opening of the vagina a membrane called the hymen or 
maidenhead. It is sometimes so small as hardly to be notice¬ 
able, and sometimes it almost closes the vagina. Since it is 
usually broken at the first sexual intercourse, its presence in¬ 
tact has been considered the evidence of virginity. The hy- 


VENEREAL DISEASES 


31 


men is rarely broken by accident or by a physician in opera¬ 
tion. When it breaks in sex relation of course it bleeds, an 
indication to the groom that his bride has preserved her 
purity. Immoral conduct leaves its evidence on the body. 
A girl should prize this mark of chastity and guard it from 
injury. 

1. What is the hymen? 

2. Why has its presence intact been considered an evidence of 
chastity ? 

Perverts and Morons. — There are some persons, usually 
men, whose sex desires have taken a somewhat unnatural 
trend and who are therefore called 'perverts. Others have 
minds so little developed that they lack ordinary self-control 
and have little moral sense; they are morons. Both these 
classes are a danger to boys and girls. They sometimes en¬ 
tice children who know no better into a secluded place and 
cruelly mistreat them. Older children they sometimes 
seize by force and outrage. Boys and girls should both be 
on their guard against advances from strangers, for they can¬ 
not know at sight who are trustworthy. Automobile rides 
with men or women who are not known to be reliable should 
especially be avoided. Dangers from these defective people 
make it unwise for boys or girls to be out in the evening alone 
or with only an immature companion. 

1. In what danger are children from perverts and morons? 

2. Why should a boy or a girl refuse to go riding with a strange 
man or woman, even though the stranger seem respectable and 
courteous ? 

3. What danger is there on the streets after dark for boys and 
girls? 

Venereal Diseases. — Immoral relations of men and 
women have spread throughout the land the germs of several 
diseases to which the term venereal has been applied. Though 
the germs which cause them may be communicated in other 


32 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


ways— by public towels and drinking cups, by a kiss, by 
public closets — they are commonly conveyed from one per¬ 
son to another through sex relations. Comparatively few 
people outside the medical profession know how widespread 
these diseases are, what terrible suffering they produce, and 
what ravages they make in the vigor of the human race. 

1. How are venereal diseases most often communicated? 

2. How else may they be spread ? 

Gonorrhea. — One of the venereal diseases, gonorrhea , was 
once thought to be comparatively harmless. It is now 
known to be one of the worst scourges of mankind, producing 
in Europe and America more sickness than almost any other 
disease. In the male organs the germs of gonorrhea get into 
the urinary and seminal passages, producing pus, whose dis¬ 
charge spreads the contagion. They sometimes cause very 
painful inflammations and not infrequently deformities that 
last through life and seriously interfere with urination. 

In the female organs gonorrhea does much more damage. 
The germs find easy passage through the uterus and tubes 
to the deeper parts of the body. In the tubes and uterus 
they flourish, producing painful inflammations and generat¬ 
ing quantities of poisonous pus. Many severe surgical oper¬ 
ations on women are made necessary by gonorrhea germs. 
They, more than any other cause, render women incapable of 
bearing children. In many cases, also, they render men in¬ 
capable of becoming fathers. 

A very large per cent of blindness is caused by gonorrheal 
sore eyes in new-born babes. The germs from the infected 
mother get into the infant’s eyes at birth, and unless the in¬ 
flammation resulting is promptly and efficiently treated, it is 
likely to produce blindness. A single treatment of silver 
nitrate, given promptly, usually cures the trouble. The at¬ 
tending physician or midwife is held responsible by law if 
through her negligence a baby goes blind. 


SYPHILIS 


33 


A young man may harbor gonorrhea germs in his body for 
months or even years, ready to contaminate the bride who 
trusts him. A girl risks her life in marrying a man who has 
not been pure in conduct. The disease under discussion is 
so widespread, and the innocent have been made to suffer so 
cruelly from it, that legislators are endeavoring to enact laws 
that will afford protection to those who suffer through no 
fault of their own, laws permitting marriage to those only 
who are physically fit. 

1. How serious a menace is gonorrhea? 

2. In what ways does gonorrhea injure men? 

3. Describe the greater harm done by gonorrhea in women. 

4. How does gonorrhea injure new-born babies? 

5. What measures are taken to prevent babies becoming blind? 

6. How are brides in danger from gonorrhea? 

7. What measures have been taken to protect them ? 

Syphilis. — This disease has been more dreaded than 
gonorrhea, because its symptoms are more revolting and its 
effects are more far-reaching; but it is not so widespread as 
gonorrhea and perhaps does not produce so much suffering 
and death. The germs of this disease spread in the blood 
all through the body. The skin is disfigured with eruptions. 
Large sores difficult to heal often develop, and unless proper 
treatment is persistently applied for months or years the 
body may gradually or after a period of several years suc¬ 
cumb to a loathsome decay or become paralyzed, or the mind 
may fail and insanity result. 

Children produced while either parent is suffering from 
syphilis usually contract the disease and die either before 
they are born or during infancy. If they live, they are often 
deformed and produce either weak children or none. Chil¬ 
dren of parents who have recovered from syphilis, though 
sometimes strong, often bear the effects of the disease — 
small, fragile teeth, deficient bone growth, and general lack of 
vigor. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. 


34 


SAFEGUARDING THE SEX LIFE 


Syphilis can commonly be cured if treatment is used early 
and persistently. Patients are tempted to stop treatment as 
soon as the symptoms of the disease disappear. The first 
symptoms always disappear in a short time, but the germs of 
the disease remain. Treatment should be kept up for many 
months, until the physician pronounces the cure complete. 
Quack doctors, “ men’s specialists,” are to be avoided more 
than ever in venereal disease. They commonly claim to have 
cured a case as soon as the first symptoms disappear. The 
patient goes on his way, confiding in this false assurance, to 
be horribly disillusioned when he finds he has infected the 
bride he has married or when his own health breaks beyond 
recovery. 

Syphilis is more likely than gonorrhea to be communi¬ 
cated through other means than sex relations. In a commu¬ 
nity where syphilis is common, as it is in all our large cities 
and in some smaller places, we must cautiously guard our 
bodies from contamination. At school or on the railway 
train have your own drinking cup if there is no sanitary 
fountain. Use your own comb and brush and avoid any 
towel used in common with others. In public closets take 
great care that your skin does not come in contact with 
surfaces that may have been contaminated by diseased 
persons. 

1. Why has syphilis been more dreaded than gonorrhea? 

2. How does syphilis affect the body ? 

3. How does syphilis in parents affect the children? 

4. Why do patients so often neglect adequate treatment for 
syphilis ? 

5. Why are advertising doctors to be avoided especially in vene¬ 
real diseases ? 

6. In what ways other than sex relations is syphilis communi¬ 
cated ? 

7. Why do some states forbid railways to provide common 
drinking cups on the cars ? 


LEGAL CHECKS 


35 


Legal Checks. — Our boards of health, backed by suitable 
laws, are doing good service in guarding us against smallpox, 
scarlet fever, diphtheria, and most other contagions, but 
people suffering from venereal disease commonly go un¬ 
checked, spreading their contagion to others, and in most 
states neither statute nor officer of the law attempts to re¬ 
strain them. In a few cities immoral women who are found, 
when arrested, to be diseased (most of them are, much of the 
time) are confined in hospitals and treated until there is little 
danger of their spreading their contagion. But their male 
companions, no matter how badly diseased and dangerous to 
the community, are rarely held in restraint. In a few states 
recently doctors have been required to report to the health 
officer cases of venereal disease, that the patient may be 
required to take treatment until cured. But the law is 
poorly enforced. In some states a physician’s certificate 
that the contracting parties are free from venereal disease is 
required before a marriage certificate is issued, a provision 
with which every one should gladly comply. 

1. What are boards of health doing in some places to check vene¬ 
real disease? 

2. What more should be done to stop the spread of these con¬ 
tagions ? 

3. In what ways do some states try to protect the family from the 
ravages of venereal disease? 


CHAPTER III 

MORAL CONSIDERATIONS 


My strength is as the strength of ten 
Because my heart is pure. — Tennyson. 


I. The Right to Be Well Born 

Our Children’s Heritage. — Men and women these days 
are being deeply stirred by a sense of responsibility for pos¬ 
terity. We must see that those who come after us are not 
deprived, through our wasteful ways, of the materials neces¬ 
sary for their well being — forests, minerals, fertile fields, 
water power. The permanent structures we erect, the con¬ 
stitution, the governments, and philanthropic and educa¬ 
tional institutions we establish, which are changed with such 
difficulty, should be so planned as to benefit our descendants 
for many generations. But most of all should we be con¬ 
cerned that our offspring themselves have splendid bodies 
and noble minds. “To pass on the torch of fife not only 
undimmed, but ever brighter from generation to generation, 
is the highest service which parents of any generation can 
possibly render.” 

1. What natural resources are we using recklessly instead of 
properly conserving for posterity ? 

2. Why is it important that our permanent institutions should be 
established with the thought of their serving those who come after 
us? 

3. What heritage is more important than these public provisions ? 

Race Decay. — While this sense of duty to posterity is 
arousing the best people of our time, the human stock in civ- 

36 




EUGENICS, NEGATIVE 


37 


ilized countries, and especially in large cities, is surely and 
not slowly deteriorating. Insanity in the United States 
increases six fold while the population doubles. Deaf- 
mutism is on the increase, as are also epilepsy, alcoholism, 
and nervous exhaustion. The torch is being dimmed. 
How? Those in whom the light of life shines less brightly 
are producing children, handing their dim light on to the 
next generation, in which it will become still fainter. For it 
is the law of life that weak parents produce still weaker chil¬ 
dren. Salvation to the race can come only by checking re¬ 
production in the weak and stimulating it in the strong. 

1. What evidences are there of racial decay in the United States ? 

2. How can we account, at least in part, for this weakening of our 
people ? 

3. How can the decadence be checked ? 

Hope Ahead. — During the last few years much has been 
learned about the laws of heredity. It seems as though at 
last our teaching is established on a firm scientific founda¬ 
tion. By the diligent application of these scientific discover¬ 
ies we are making wonderful strides in the improvement of 
cultivated plants and domestic animals. The hope arises 
that, if we give study and devotion to the production and 
rearing of children, we can in time bring forth a race of nobler 
men and women. Such a result is worthy of the utmost 
endeavor and can be produced only by a thorough consecra¬ 
tion to wholesome, ideal living, a consecration such as is 
shown in conforming to a religious duty. 

1. How does the progress made in plant and animal breeding 
point the way for improvement in the human stock ? 

2. In what spirit only can we make adequate progress ? 

Eugenics, Negative. — The work for eugenics (well born) 
takes a negative, and a positive aspect. Negatively our en¬ 
deavor will be to prevent the propagation of the undesirable. 
People having transmissible defects should not marry. In 


38 


MORAL CONSIDERATIONS 


this class are the congenitally deaf and dumb, most of the 
deformed, the epileptic, the weak-minded, those with in¬ 
sanity which runs in the family, those having grave incurable 
nervous disorders, habitual drunkards and drug fiends, the 
syphilitic, those suffering from lead poisoning or tubercu¬ 
losis. 

Our prisons, reformatories, almshouses, and asylums for 
defectives are largely recruited from the families of such 
people. State laws are doing something to prevent the mar¬ 
riage of these unfit. But the laws are not enough. The hu¬ 
man race cannot attain its highest development until a deep 
sense of responsibility is awakened in its younger members. 
They must recognize the fact that they are the guardians of 
the torch of life. Those unable to hand on the torch un¬ 
dimmed must voluntarily, for the sake of the race, lay aside 
all thought of matrimony. Marriage should not always 
follow where love points the way, or if marriage is consum¬ 
mated, it should be so carefully guarded that no unfit children 
are produced. Renunciation may sometimes be the highest 
duty of love. 

1. What restraining action is necessary to racial progress? 

2. What inheritable defects are multiplied by marriages of the 
unfit? 

3. What becomes of the offspring of many defective parents? 

4. How can this cankering stream be checked ? 

Eugenics, Positive. — Concerning the positive aspects of 
eugenics there is at present too little to say. With regard to 
the human race the study is just beginning. We do know, 
however, that the strong body and active mind of the parents 
are inherited by the offspring. It should add immensely to 
the interest and conscientiousness with which we care for 
ourselves, to know that we are providing not only for our 
own well-being but also for our children and our children’s 
children. There can be no more worthy consecration for a 


THE CONTROLLING IDEAL 


39 


young man or a young woman than this — to keep himself or 
herself pure, to train the body to be strong, the mind to be 
whole, that he may be a worthy father or she a worthy mother 
of the better race that is to be. 

1. What thought of our offspring will give us increased determina¬ 
tion to care for our own health ? 

2. To what social ideal should we all be devoted ? 

II. Conclusion 

We have tried to explain clearly the physiology of repro¬ 
duction, because we think boys and girls ought to under¬ 
stand the subject; they have a right to know themselves. 
We have called attention to the particular evils that follow 
the wrong use of the sex function and to the horrible diseases 
that are sweeping the land as a result of immorality; we 
have done this so that you may know something of the 
enormity of the disaster and may not through ignorance 
become a victim. 

The Controlling Ideal. — Now, in closing, we shall try to 
set before you an ideal that will be a safe guide in temptation 
and will bring you the greatest happiness and satisfaction. 
Common animals feel sexual attraction to their mates only at 
certain seasons or periods. Then they respond to their in¬ 
stincts without restraint. Adult man is not entirely limited 
to seasons, but may at any time feel sexual desire, and 
needs to, control his actions by his reason rather than by 
instincts. The more progressive parts of the human race 
have for centuries been growing toward the ideal of mo¬ 
nogamy , one man and one woman married for life. No com¬ 
munity has as yet perfectly attained the ideal. But every 
boy and girl should adopt this as his or her ideal and should 
firmly resolve to let nothing turn him or her aside from this 
high aim. The young man expects a pure girl for his bride; 
the young woman should accept only the chaste man as her 
suitor. 


40 


MORAL CONSIDERATIONS 


Fair play is a virtue we value highly. We despise the 
sneak who tries to get from others what he is not willing 
to give in return. Only a low-down fellow would come 
smirched and tarnished to a bride whom he requires to be 
pure and true. From the time a person is able to understand 
the meaning of marriage, he should cherish his purity for 
the one who may in future years join him in wedlock. Main¬ 
taining the same ideal of purity for men as for women is what 
we mean by “ the single moral standard,” in contrast to “ the 
double standard,” which holds girls strictly to chaste con¬ 
duct while allowing boys to lapse therefrom. Earnest 
people in America are determined to maintain the single 
standard. 

1. In what way is mankind’s sex instinct different from that of 
animals ? 

2. This makes necessary what different control of mankind’s 
actions ? 

3. What does monogamy mean? 

4. To what sex ideal should boys and girls be loyal? 

5. Explain what is meant by the single moral standard? the 
double standard? 

6. What can you do to help maintain the single standard? 

Dragging Others Down. — If a boy (or a girl) should be so 
reckless as not to care for the sanctity of his own person, let 
him remember that the stain of vice is not on himself alone. 
He always drags another into the mire with him. How can 
one be so blind to the welfare of his fellows as willfully to ruin 
the life of a companion? The normal and proper function 
of the sex organs is the production of a child. To indulge 
the sex function in spite of this almost certain result is not 
only to wrong oneself and one’s partner in vice, but also to fix 
the disgrace of illegitimate birth on an innocent child. The 
relation of parenthood, which under proper conditions brings 
great joy, becomes to transgressors a blight on the lives of 
those it should bless. 


SEX NEEDS 


41 


1. Why is one who entices another to vice doubly guilty? 

2. How does he wrong an innocent child ? 

Legal Protection. — Because girls, through ignorance, 
weakness, or undue complaisance, have often been the vic¬ 
tims of unscrupulous men, and because innocent children are 
made to suffer for the transgressions of their unmarried par¬ 
ents, the law offers a measure of protection (often too slight) 
to those in need. The offense of begetting an illegitimate 
child is called bastardy. The man who commits the offense 
can, upon conviction in court, be made to pay for the support 
of the child. To indulge in sex relations outside marriage is 
called fornication and is a punishable offense. Violation of 
the marriage vow is adultery , legally a more serious offense 
than fornication. If a man attempts to force a girl or woman 
against her will, he is guilty of assault and can be severely 
punished. If he succeeds in his attempt, he is guilty of rape 
and he may be sent to prison for years and in some states 
hanged. If a man has sex relations with a girl who is below 
the “ age of consent,” even though she consents or solicits the 
act, he is guilty of rape and may be punished. The age of con¬ 
sent differs in different states, commonly between fourteen and 
eighteen years. Under that age a girl is presumed to be un¬ 
suited to decide such a matter for herself and must be let alone. 

Define each of the following offenses and give the degree of pun¬ 
ishment which the law awards each : bastardy, fornication, adultery, 
assault, rape. 

Sex Needs. — Some young men have the notion that they 
need, for their most complete physical development, to have 
occasional sex relations with women. Nothing could be far¬ 
ther from the truth. Perfect health is in keeping with per¬ 
fect continence. In athletic training continence is the strict 
rule. It is considered one of the conditions necessary to the 
highest physical vigor. Men come to their marriage in the 
best sexual state if they have lived chaste lives. 


42 


MORAL CONSIDERATIONS 


1. Give some evidence that good health does not require sex in¬ 
dulgence. 

2. By what kind of life can a man best prepare himself for mar¬ 
riage ? 

Avoid Temptation. — Young men and young women who 
have adopted for themselves the ideal of keeping themselves 
pure for their future mates may fall into trangression through 
inadvertence. They do not mean to err, but their passion is 
strong and they are caught off their guard. They do not 
know how strong their passion is until they are overwhelmed 
by it. Their safety consists in avoiding temptation. They 
should take pains to refrain from things which stimulate 
their passion, from intimacies with the opposite sex, kissing, 
close embrace in dancing, and the like. The social propri¬ 
eties are to aid such people in their self-control and should 
be carefully observed. 

1. How do well-intentioned young people sometimes come to 
transgress ? 

2. What should they do to guard themselves against the danger? 

The bodily union of men and women ought never to be 
simply the gratification of physical passion : it should come as 
the most intense expression of a love so devoted that the 
lovers are ready to give up their lives for each other, or to 
spend all their years in unselfish service of each other. This 
ideal of the relation of the sexes should be in the background 
of the daily life of boys and girls — always there, controlling 
the actions, requiring courtesy to others and respect of self, 
but not brought to notice. In fact, to meditate on the bodily 
relation detracts from the high quality of the love of husband 
and wife that is to come. Settle the matter once for all, that 
you will keep yourself fit for the marriage relation by living 
a chaste life, then put the matter out of your attention and 
give your thoughts to the cultivation of those qualities which 
will make you worthy of esteem and love. 


INDEX 



INDEX 


Adolescence, 24. 
adultery, 41. 
amoeba, 2. 

asexual reproduction, 2. 

Barrow, 26. 
bastardy, 41. 
bee, 14. 

birds mating, 14. 
bladder, 18, 20. 
blindness, 32. 
buds, 4. 

Capon, 26. 
castration, 26. 
cell division, 2. 
cells, 1. 
cervix, 20. 
change of life, 30. 
chromosomes, 8. 
cilia, 20. 

circumcision, 26. 
close fertilization, 12. 
color bodies, 8. 
conception, 21. 
coral, 4. 

Cowper’s glands, 18. 
cross fertilization, 12. 

Double moral standard, 40. 

Egg containing embryo, 16. 
eggs of lower animals, 15. 

mammals, 21. 

Eliot, George, quoted, 1. 
embryo, 15, 16. 
food of, 15. 
respiration of, 15. 
mammalian, 21, 22. 


eugenics, negative, 37. 

positive, 38. 
eunuch, 26. 

Euripides quoted, 24. 

Fallopian tubes, 20. 
female, 7, 10, 19. 

organs, 19, 20. 

Terns, 3. 

fertilizing the ovum, 5. 
in flowers, 11. 
in land animals, 13. 
in water animals, 13. 
flower diagram, 12. 
foetus, 21, 22. 
fornication, 41. 

Gelding, 26. 
gestation, 22. 
gonorrhea, 32. 
growth of embryo, 15. 

Heritage of our children, 36. 
hermaphrodite, 7. 
hormones, 25. 
hydra, 5, 6. 
hymen, 20, 30. 

Inheritance, 8. 
insects, fertilization, 14. 
interstitial cells, 25. 

Male, 7, 11. 
function, 17. 
organs, 18. 
mammae, 23. 
mammals, 17. 
inarriage flight of bee, 14. 

I masturbation, 27. 

43 




44 

maturation of cell, 8. 
menopause, 30. 
menstruation, 29. 
milt, 13. 
mold, 3. 
monogamy, 39. 
morons, 31. 
moss, 3. 

Night emissions, 28. 
nucleus, 1, 8. 

Ovary, 19, 20. 
oviduct, 14. 
ovulation, 21, 29. 
ovule, 11. 
ovum, 5, 19. 
ox, 26. 

Pasteur, 1. 
penis, 18. 
perfect flower, 7. 
perverts, 31. 
pistil, 11. 
placenta, 22. 
pollen, 11. 
prostate gland, 18. 
protoplasm, 1. 
puberty, 24. 
pubic bone, 18, 20. 

Race decay, 36. 
rape, 41. 
rectum, 18, 20. 

Scrotum, 18. 
seed, 12. 
semen, 18. 


INDEX 

seminal vescicles, 18. 
sex, 6. 

sex determination, 10. 
sexual reproduction, 4. 
shoots, 4. 
sibs, 10. 

single moral standard, 40. 
sperm duct, 18. 
spermary, 5, 7. 
spermatozoon, 5, 17. 
spirogyra, 4, 5. 
spontaneous generation, 1. 
spores, 3. 
steer, 26. 
syphilis, 33. 

Tennyson quoted, 36. 
testes, 7, 17, 18. 
tissue, 1, 2. 
twins, 11. 

Umbilical cord, 22, 23. 
umbilicus, 22. 
urethra, 17, 18, 20. 
uterine tubes, 19. 
uterus, 19, 20. 

Vagina, 19, 20. 
vampire “doctors”, 28. 
venereal diseases, 31. 
villi, 22. 

Wether, 26. 
womb, 20. 

Yeast, 4. 
yolk of egg, 16. 
































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